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Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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Things American

Hunter S. Thompson & Oscar Acosta in the Desert:
A 45-Year Retrospective

by Timothy Denevi | May 9, 2016

Hunter S. Thompson & Oscar Acosta in the Desert: <br> A 45-Year Retrospective

1. _ On the morning of Friday, March 19th, 1971, Hunter S. Thompson, already the bestselling author of one book and long overdue on his contract for another, accepted what appeared to be a fairly innocuous journalistic assignment: write five hundred words of copy for Sports Illustrated to go along with a photo essay on the Mint 400 motorcycle race, which was scheduled to take place that coming weekend in Las Vegas 1. It was a cushy offer, to say the least: Thompson would get paid three … [Read more...] about Hunter S. Thompson & Oscar Acosta in the Desert:
A 45-Year Retrospective

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, NOTEBOOK FEATURE, THINGS AMERICAN Tagged With: American Dream, Drugs, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, Las Vegas, Oscar Acosta, Raoul Duke, Rolling Stone, Ruben Salazar, Strange Rumblings in Aztlan, The Gonzo Tapes, Things American, Timothy Denevi

Things American: Control Magic

by Alexander Lumans | April 25, 2014

Things American: Control Magic

“The mind: a great weapon and an even greater weakness.” – Jace Beleren  I. “Illusions of Grandeur” It’s 7 A.M. on a Saturday in October 2012. I'm twenty-eight-years-old and yelling “Idiot,” “Fucking terrible,” and “What were you thinking?” into my steering wheel. I’m driving home from Time Warp Comics, where I’ve just lost a Magic tournament. And not just lost, but lost lost: eighteenth out of twenty-five at the midnight release for the newest set, Return to Ravnica. My opponents? Mostly … [Read more...] about Things American: Control Magic

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, NOTEBOOK FEATURE, THINGS AMERICAN Tagged With: Alexander Lumans, Failure, Magic: The Gathering, Things American

Things Buffalo: My New Skin

by Kim Chinquee | August 6, 2013

Things Buffalo: My New Skin

Driving along the Outer Harbor, I watch for signs that direct me to the beach, watching for parked vehicles with bike racks, stickers on bumpers that might say 13.1, 26.2, 70.3, 140.6. My Toyota has a 26.2, though I haven’t done a tri yet, an ironman or a half. I see boats docked along the harbor, a place called Dug’s Dive, which I hear serves strong drinks, thick and tasty ice cream. Lake Erie, to my right, helps me find direction, knowing on the map it’s west of the city. I’m not so good … [Read more...] about Things Buffalo: My New Skin

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK Tagged With: Buffalo, Gallagher Beach, Kim Chinquee, Things American, Triathalons

Things American: The Buffalo Sentence (Federman, Coetzee, Creeley).

by Ted Pelton | August 6, 2013

Things American: The Buffalo Sentence (Federman, Coetzee, Creeley).

  Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. This is actually a grammatical sentence, featuring Buffalo the city, the animal the buffalo, and an obscure verb, to buffalo, meaning to intimidate or bully. Substituting different words for each of these parts we can hear the structure of the sentence better, as in, “Cincinnati bison Cincinnati bison intimidate intimidate Cincinnati bison.” It is perhaps coincidental, but as a student, fiction writer, and professor … [Read more...] about Things American: The Buffalo Sentence (Federman, Coetzee, Creeley).

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK Tagged With: Buffalo, Coetzee, Creeley, Federman, J.M. Coetzee, Raymond Federman, Robert Creeley, Starcherone Books, Ted Pelton, Things American

Things American: An Introduction to Buffalo

by Jess Stoner | August 6, 2013

Things American: An Introduction to Buffalo

This week for Things American, we're excited to share the work of Kim Chinquee, Brian Mihok, and Ted Pelton, who are writers and/or artists and/or publishers based in Buffalo, New York. I asked them to contribute and share their experience of the city because it has been on my mind lately, what with the bankruptcy of Detroit; and because I'm from Western New York, although I haven't been to Buffalo since the &Now conference in 2009; and because it's hot every day here in Austin, and I've … [Read more...] about Things American: An Introduction to Buffalo

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK Tagged With: Brian Mihok, Buffalo, Kim Chinquee, MSNBC, Ted Pelton, Things American

Things American: Yeah Science Breaking Bad!

by Jess Stoner and Carmiel Banasky | August 5, 2013

Things American: Yeah <del>Science</del> Breaking Bad!

Like many, many others, we dived into the k-hole that is breaking down Breaking Bad. What follows is a series of gchat conversations between Jess Stoner and Carmiel Banasky about the show, its fiction connections, and our obsession. [We start from the very first scene of "Blood Money"] CB: I love this intro (I'm rewatching as we chat). It keeps with the pool motif. The pool has become a way to track the passage of time in the series. JS: I know! It brings you right back to the first … [Read more...] about Things American: Yeah Science Breaking Bad!

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, THINGS AMERICAN Tagged With: Alice Munro, Breaking Bad, Carmiel Banasky, Henry James, Jess Stoner, Mona Simpson, Things American, Walter White

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Issue 81

Guest-edited by Fernando A. Flores, featuring new stories by Yvette DeChavez, Julián Delgado Lopera, Carribean Fragoza, Alejandro Heredia, Carmen Maria Machado, Ruben Reyes Jr., and Gerardo Sámano Córdova.

You can preview the issue here.

NEWS

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

By ASF Editors

“Memories are a nuisance,” Peter wrote to one of our writers after reading his short story, “but nonetheless they seem to make us who we are, as this story confirms.” This year’s submissions told many stories burdened with memory, but just as many stared bravely into the face of hope, satirized the state of politics, speculated on the future of the world, or else built entirely new worlds to inhabit. In short, the stories written on the inside reflected the stories we wrote this year on the outside. Stories of human toil and dreams and everything in between.
 

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